Who makes it
Concha y Toro created Don Melchor in 1987, naming it after Don Melchor de Santiago Concha y Toro, who founded the company in 1883. Enrique Tirado has made the wine since the 1997 harvest and became CEO of its standalone operation within the group in 2019.
Bordeaux consultant Jacques Boissenot advised on the first vintage. His son Eric Boissenot now holds that role. Don Melchor makes one wine, selecting fifty to seventy percent of the estate’s fruit for it each year.
Where it grows
The vineyard is in Puente Alto, in the upper Maipo Valley sub-zone of Maipo Alto. It occupies the third alluvial terrace on the Maipo River’s northern bank, with loamy topsoil over deep river gravel. The site is approximately 650 metres above sea level, with hot days and cold nights influenced by the Andes to the east.
What they make
The 2022 Don Melchor blends ninety-five percent Cabernet Sauvignon, three percent Carmenère, one percent Merlot and one percent Petit Verdot. It has red-fruit, blackcurrant, blackberry and floral aromas, with a full body, fine tannins and balancing acidity.
The 2021 vintage amounted to approximately eighteen thousand cases. It was released in 2024 and ranked first in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 that year.